It 's called Godwin 's law . The longer a debate rages , the greater the likelihood that someone will compare someone else to Hitler .

And Hillary Clinton has done just that : On Tuesday the former secretary of state reportedly told a private fund-raising party that Russian President Vladimir Putin 's actions are similar to Hitler 's in the run up to World War II .

Her quote -LRB- according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram -RRB- : `` All the Germans that were ... the ethnic Germans , the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places , Hitler kept saying they 're not being treated right . I must go and protect my people , and that 's what 's gotten everybody so nervous . ''

Of course , what also gets everybody `` so nervous '' is leading statesmen comparing Putin to Hitler and , thereby , raising the specter of another world war .

It 's unlikely that Clinton intended to gain politically from these remarks -- and they were carefully qualified . She added that `` there is no indication that Putin is as irrational '' as the German dictator was . But they could indicate that if she wins the 2016 election , America might gain a slightly more forceful president in foreign affairs , someone more willing to engage directly in Europe than Obama has . You may recall that in the 2008 primaries she was the Democrats ' hawk candidate -- so much so that Ann Coulter preferred her to John McCain -LRB- Coulter called her `` our girl '' -RRB- .

But was Clinton right ? Mostly no . It is true that Putin 's justification for intervention in Ukraine is similar to Hitler 's , that is , threatening to invade a sovereign territory to defend his ethnic brethren . But the situation is complex , and the historical comparison is tenuous at best .

Opinion : Has Putin broken international law ?

After all , in the eyes of many ethnic Russians , it is the Ukrainian nationalists -- not Putin -- who are the Nazis . The Russians have asserted , quite accurately , that the revolution that overthrew a pro-Russian , democratically elected leader has resulted in the elevation of Russophobe fascists into key government positions . For example , the new secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council is Andriy Parubiy -- co-founder of the Neo-Nazi Social-National Party of Ukraine -LRB- SNPU -RRB- .

Another creator of the SNPU is Oleh Tyahnybok , a high-profile leader of the Kiev protests who has blamed Ukraine 's problems on a Jewish conspiracy run out of Moscow . Ukraine 's new deputy secretary of national security is Dmytro Yarosh , leader of the Right Sector group , which regards Tyahnybok as a soft liberal and which flies the old flag of the Ukrainian Nazi collaborators at its rallies .

In other words , in this situation , who exactly are the Nazis ? Putin 's ethnic Russian nationalists ? Or the fringe of the ethnic Ukrainian nationalists ? Neither is particularly pleasant .

Of course , the Ukrainian Nazi movement is small , and Ukraine is dwarfed by Russia , which puts Putin in the role of the dominant regional power picking on a small country and exploiting its extremist politics for the purpose of propaganda . But Putin is still no Hitler , because he lacks the German Fuhrer 's global vision .

Opinion : Putin 2014 vs. Putin 2004

Hitler worked by an all-encompassing racist ideology that dreamed of turning Europe into a giant living space for his people . Putin -- the leader of a democracy , albeit a highly corrupt and politically stagnant one -- simply meddles in the affairs of countries that could reasonably be said to fall within his country 's historical sphere of influence . Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union until two decades ago -LRB- whereas Crimea was part of Russia until 1954 -RRB- , the country contains millions of ethnic Russians and , crucially , it has Russian military installations that are key to Russia 's strategic interests .

In other words , a Russian invasion of Ukraine is not going to be a stepping stone to the invasion of France . Unfortunately , it may well be a stepping stone to involvement in the affairs of the Baltic states -- which are firmly in NATO and the EU . This is why Putin 's latest ambitions have to be checked .

Nevertheless , calling Putin Hitler is careless . Even reckless . As Marc Tracy points out in the New Republic , it 's historically insensitive and ignores the tapestry of cultural clashes and political calculations going on . It smacks , too , of the Manichean division of the world between good and evil that permeated the war on terror and led to so many terrible mistakes and so many American deaths overseas . Worse , still , is that such provocative language should be applied to a confrontation with a state like Russia .

We are dealing with a major power with nuclear weapons that has the capacity to reduce the world to so much irradiated ash . The West needs to be careful with its words .

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Timothy Stanley : Hillary Clinton compared Putin 's Ukraine moves to Hitler 's in 1930s

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He says the comment was ill-considered ; Putin 's justification is similar , but not much else

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He says Ukrainian nationalists are more Nazi-like , and Putin not planning Europe invasion

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Stanley : If Putin eyeing Baltic states , which are in NATO , EU , his ambition must be checked